Upstate exceeds national average for charitable contributions

Jul. 6, 2013

Faith Fountain, left, and Camille Sellers make arts and crafts in the 'Off the Wall' area at the Children's Museum in Greenville. / PATRICK COLLARD/Staff

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Contributions to the Metropolitan Arts Council helped make 2011 “our best year yet,” said Executive Director Alan Ethridge. That was, until 2012, when MAC exceeded the previous year by almost 36 percent.

“At MAC we are seeing a swing upwards in terms of income,” Ethridge says. “But then again, I don’t know if that’s a function of anything truly economic as opposed to civic pride.”

Across the board, giving is up, and a recent study by the Giving Institute proves it. But middle-income people in Greenville are giving even more — 8.1 percent of their discretionary income compared with 4.7 percent nationally.

The Giving Institute, made up of philanthropy organizations from around the country, examines donations nationwide each year, and the 2012 findings are quite remarkable, says Jennifer Richard, vice president of client partnerships at the Winkler Group and a member of Giving USA’s editorial review board.

Giving has gone up across the spectrum, though some areas were higher than others. In 2012, Americans gave $316.23 billion, up 3.5 percent from 2011. According to the data, levels were higher for organizations related to arts, culture and the environment, and $8.7 billion from individuals provided the single largest bump.

A giving community

Upstate Forever, which promotes sensible growth and a healthy natural environment, has seen its giving go up each year since 2009. Executive Director Brad Wyche points to a greater concern for preserving the quality of life that Greenville has achieved with its downtown renovation. The success demonstrates the way in which economic prosperity and environmental protection can work together.

“That’s something we are constantly pointing out; we can have it both ways,” Wyche says.

He points to a recent study that showed businesses along the Swamp Rabbit Trail experienced significant economic growth.

“So I think the better economic conditions are a factor,” Wyche says of his organization’s increased donations. “I think there is increasing interest and support for quality of life and environmental issues and projects across the country. And I think we have some very caring and giving people and companies in the Upstate.”

Richard is careful not to draw conclusions, but one explanation might be the improving economy.

“What we saw happen during the worst part of the recession is people were shifting their giving to support areas of greatest human need,” Richard says. “And now that there appears to be some indicators that the economy is recovering, it’s possible that people are going back to their giving preferences that they had pre-recession.”

Ethridge is not surprised by Greenville’s higher level of giving.

“I think in a lot of ways Greenville has been, relatively speaking, pretty immune to a lot of the fluctuations that probably are true in other areas,” Ethridge says. “You’re not really comparing apples to apples if you compare Greenville to say Flint, Mich. But this is such a philanthropic community and there’s so much civic pride in our cultural amenities and in our beautiful environment.”

Looking local

When Karen Schulz learned about Greenville Little Theatre, she knew it was something she wanted to get involved with. She didn’t have loads of disposable income, but she wanted to find away to to give back to the community, she says. So she joined the theater, becoming a season ticket-holder and a volunteer.

Schulz, who works in public relations for Verizon, said giving gives back. “For me, going to the theater is an opportunity to let my imagination wander and to experience the range of human emotions,” she says. “And that can translate to all areas of your life. So I think the theater does a lot to develop an individual, and it adds to quality of life.”

This year, Schulz joined Greenville Little Theatre’s board, too.

One of the most striking findings of all the giving studies is that people in Greenville, in particular, give a higher percentage of their salary than in most other places in the country. Middle income people, defined as those earning between $50,000 and $100,000, gave 8.1 percent of their discretionary income to charitable causes and religious institutions in 2012. That’s quite a bit more than the national average of 4.7 percent, Richard says.

When you look at the studies, Richard says, “what we see is that the Upstate is a very generous community.”

Count among local examples the recently announced Year of Altruism. The collaboration between 70 local organizations will promote and highlight altruism throughout the community over the course of a year, starting in August. Nine months of lectures, performances, concerts and volunteer opportunities will push forward and reinforce the importance of humanitarianism.

“As a community, we have much to commend,” says Courtney Tollison Hartness, program director for the Year of Altruism.

She can prove it.

“Last year, the local United Way raised over 15 million dollars in funds to benefit local agencies,” Tollison Hartness says. “The Greenville Meals on Wheels is the oldest Meals on Wheels organization in the Southeast and the sixth-oldest in the nation; the Greenville Literacy Association ranks in the top three percent nationally in terms of the number of volunteers and the number of those it serves.”

Lauren Biediger, 23, grew up in a family that demonstrated the importance of giving back. Her father served on the board of the Greenville Symphony and her family regularly attended concerts. She spent her younger years dancing and became immersed in the classical music world.

Today, she feels a commitment to keep the things she enjoyed as a child around for future generations. She joined the Greenville Symphony Orchestra’s Vivace Society last year, and this year, Biediger became the group’s social chair as well.

“It was important for me to join something that has always been important to our family,” Biediger says. “It’s something that, who knows if the symphony will be around, or how much longer it will be here. It’s important to support it while it’s here.”

Though the Giving USA study showed that nationally donations to religious organizations went down in 2012, it didn’t include state data. Sue Priester theorizes that even if people here are not giving specifically to church, the precedent of tithing may still have a latent effect.

“That becomes part of people’s lives,” says Priester, co-chair of Greenville Women Giving, an organization focused on education and collective community giving. “And charitable giving extends beyond their place of worship.”

Russell Stall, executive director of Greenville Forward, points out another factor in the Upstate — an aversion to taxes that results in a heavy reliance on the private sector. Many of Greenville’s well-known projects have resulted from a public-private partnership. He points to Falls Park and the Peace Center.

“The local governments gave some infrastructure, but primarily they were funded through philanthropic gifts, either corporate or individuals,” Stall says. “We have such a get-it-done kind of attitude in Greenville. But that’s part of our history.”

Biediger, for one, remembers the city as it once was, the negative of Greenville today. She wants to preserve the city of today, which is why after she graduated from Clemson and began working and living on her own, she wanted to get involved with the community. The $250 a year she pays to be a member of Vivace seems a small price for a thriving community.

“It has grown so much, and now it has become such a big arts city, and I want it to keep growing,” Biediger says. “From my point of view, I think a lot more people are encouraged to give because they love this town, they love this city, and they want to make sure that all of the things that are here will stay around for their children to see and for their grandchildren to see.”

Lesson for nonprofits

There is more to be gleaned from all of this, says Richard, and she urges non-profits to take note. For as much as giving rose in 2012, the reason wasn’t corporations, but individuals.

“It’s easy for nonprofits to look around their community at businesses and corporations and think that that’s where they are going to find their money,” Richard says. “And certainly corporate giving did go up this year. But when you look at the entire pie, of all the money that’s given away in the United States, more than 70 percent of it comes from individuals.”

In Schulz’s assessment, Greenville just has a precedent for people getting involved in the community.

“I don’t think it’s ever a matter of how much do you give, I think it’s a matter of how willingly do you give,” Schulz says. “No organization I’ve ever been a part of balked at any size gift. So whether it’s a $5 bill in the offering plate on Sunday morning or it’s a massive donation for a new building, I think that all gifts are not necessarily monetarily equal, but equal in value.”